Question

Read the following passages. Identify the genre and subgenre of each excerpt, state the theme that all three share, and then compare and contrast the differences in the way the different genres develop that theme. Note: Douglass' work was written before the Civil War, and the other pieces were published after the Civil War.
Passage A: (From Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave by Frederick Douglass)
"Sunday was my only leisure time. I spent this in a sort of beast-like stupor, between sleep and wake, under some large tree. At times I would rise up, a flash of energetic freedom would dart through my soul, accompanied with a faint beam of hope, that flickered for a moment, and then vanished. I sank down again, mourning over my wretched condition."

Passage B: (From "Song of Myself" by Walt Whitman)
"The runaway slave came to my house and stopt outside,
I heard his motions crackling the twigs of the woodpile,
Through the swung half-door of the kitchen I saw him limpsy and weak,
And went where he sat on a log and led him in and assured him,
And brought water and fill'd a tub for his sweated body and bruis'd feet,
And gave him a room that enter'd from my own, and gave him some
coarse clean clothes,
And remember perfectly well his revolving eyes and his awkwardness,
And remember putting piasters on the galls of his neck and ankles;
He staid with me a week before he was recuperated and pass'd north,
I had him sit next me at table, my fire-lock lean'd in the corner."

Passage C: (From The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain)
It was awful thoughts, and awful words, but they was said. And I let them stay said, and never thought no more about reforming. I shoved the whole thing out of my head, and said I would take up wickedness again, which was in my line, being brung up to it, and the other warn't. And for a starter, I would go to work and steal Jim out of slavery again; and if I could think up anything worse, I would do that, too; because as long as I was in, and in for good, I might as well go the whole hog.

Answer 1

Passage A from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave is non-fiction, specifically autobiography. Passage B from "Song of Myself" by Walt Whitman is poetry written in the sub-genre of free verse. Passage C from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is fiction from the sub-genre of regionalism or local color. All three passages are about the importance of having freedom and hope of freedom. All passages reflect that the wrriters felt that slavery was wrong. Passage A is powerful because it is the true perspective of someone who lived as a slave. It shows how much freedom meant to Douglass. Passage B is poetry that tells a story that may or may not be true. The point of it is that the speaker in the poem treated the slave kindly and as an equal and that he trusted him as a human being and did what he could to help the man to safety. The language is spare and careful, which is where the genre's power lies. Passage C uses characters to make the point: Huck is determined to help Jim escape from slavery even though it is deemed wrong. He knows that slavery is not right, and he chooses to be "bad" rather than allow Jim to remain a slave. The power of fiction is in the situations, characterizations, and dialogue. This passage also tells a story, but it is much longer with greater detail than passage B.